Man Pleads Guilty In Drug Case

October 03, 2002|By From Courant Staff Reports

A second University of Connecticut student has pleaded guilty in federal court to operating an illegal methamphetamine laboratory in East Hartford.

Charles Smith, 23, a student at the University 0f Connecticut, admitted in U.S. District Court in Hartford Wednesday that he and another student, Aaron Chambers, had been cooking methamphetamine in Smith's apartment in violation of federal drug laws.

In proceedings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez, U.S. Attorney John A Danaher III said Smith and Chambers operated the drug lab.

The maximum penalty both face is a $1 million fine and 20 years in prison.

The scheme unraveled in February when the parents of Chambers' girlfriend found drug-making chemicals stashed at their house in Enfield and turned them over to the Enfield Police Department. Police have said that Chambers cooperated with the state and federal investigation that followed.

Chambers pleaded guilty in June to a charge of manufacturing methamphetamine and interfering with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

U.S. Attorney John A. Danaher III credited the DEA, the Connecticut Controlled Substances and Toxicology Laboratory, the Enfield Police Department and the Connecticut State Police with solving the case.